[photo of the front cover of the
scrapbook]
The Scrap Book cover has almost
completely fallen off. Many of the first pages and several of the later ones
have become detached from the two brads that originally held the scrap book
together. Inside I find a variety of newspaper clippings: front page articles,
sequential articles about one man's death, obituaries, wedding and travel
announcements, stories of local events, national events. There are some
magazine clippings and poems. There’s even a personal item or two including two
hand-crafted paper figures with movable limbs. All of these are items of such
importance that someone took the time to carefully insert them in this Scrap
Book. The newspaper clippings are now as brown as the scrapbook pages
themselves. Some clippings have become detached from their original page, some
are stuck tight to the page, and some appear to be missing altogether. But inside
this Scrap Book are stories, connections, information and evidence of my
ancestors and the lives they lived. Friends, among whom they lived, are
present, as are associates from church and workplace, and neighbors, both next
door and within the community. Join me as I begin my journey to discover all
that this Scrap Book contains.
How Did I Become the Keeper of the Scrap Book?
In June 2006, on one of their
travel stops while they fifth-wheeled their home around the country, my
parents visited me in the suburbs of Chicago. On this visit, Mom had brought a
box of memorabilia of items of mine that they had kept through the years. With
the downsizing of their home space, Mom felt it was time that I became the
curator of my "stuff." Mom also presented me with the Scrap Book. She
had received it from her mother, my grandmother, Beatrice (Hirsch) Mensch, who
was then living in Mesa, Arizona. Since I'm always asking questions of my parents
about their growing up years and what they remember of their parents’ lives –
I'm the genealogist in the family, you see – Mom decided that I should receive
the scrapbook. Perhaps I could use the information contained within its pages
for my family tree research. Mom didn't seem too curious about its contents, or
at least didn't mention specifically much of what it contained. Mom didn't know
whose scrapbook it was, but I thought I might be able to determine that at some
point once I had a chance to go through its contents.
[photo of note from Grandma Mensch]
A Note Begins to Explain the Origin of the Scrap Book.
Inside the front cover of the
scrapbook I found an undated, handwritten note. In my grandmother's familiar
handwriting, the note is on the reverse side of a torn off half of a poster.
An address on the lower half of the poster, "908 S. Power
Road," identifies the location of an event in Mesa, Arizona, where my
grandparents lived for many years. Grandma Mensch's note begins: "4
[written over 5] generations back from Jim's were born in USA" and then
gives the specific number of generations for four surnames: "(5) Mensch;
(4) Hirsch; (3) Krantz, Reeves (4) generations." That would be
Grandpa Mensch's and her married surname, Grandma's maiden surname, her
mother's maiden surname, and Grandpa Mensch's mother's surname - all direct
ancestral surnames in our family tree. But why is cousin Jim's name mentioned?
Was the note originally written to my aunt since it mentions her son's
name? Or had Grandma mixed up which grandchild belonged to which daughter,
mentioning Jim instead of me? More on that in a bit.
The majority of the note discusses
"great great great grandfather John Hickler" and some of his
outstanding accomplishments. [More on John Hickler in
subsequent blog posts.] My cousin, Jim, and I share this same 3rd
great grandfather in our family tree. Grandma Mensch states: "I gave you
scrap book about his death etc." Gave who the scrapbook? The
last statement on Grandma's note provides a clue: "I really don't have to
[sic] many birth dates." Aha! At some point since beginning my genealogy
research in the mid 1990s I remember asking my mother to ask Grandma
Mensch specifically for birth dates as I attempted to fill in the blanks on our
family tree. Grandma Mensch apparently couldn't provide much information. The
scrap book, however, contains a great deal of information and appears to have
come from Grandma Mensch, via my mother, to me. Thanks, Grandma Mensch! Now,
how to determine who first owned the scrapbook and carefully pasted everything
within it? The journey of discovery begins.
The URL for this post is: http://erieniagararoots.blogspot.com/2013/02/scrapbook-saturday-scrap-book-beginning.html
No comments:
Post a Comment